The Garden of Words
by FaythHymns
Summary: They met at a garden. She was wearing a suit, drinking beer and eating chocolate in the morning, during a weekday. And she was wearing a high school uniform, skipping school to draw sketches on a rainy morning. And before they knew it, they were drenched in each other.
1. A Rainy Morning

_I didn't notice these things before entering high school._

 _The dampness of my uniform sleeves, wet from someone else's umbrella leaning against me._

 _The smell of mothballs clinging to someone's suit._

 _Stranger's heat pushing up against my back._

 _Unpleasant cold air conditioner breeze blowing in my face._

The robotic voice from the speaker announced the destination. The doors opened with a creek, and people pushed outside in a hurry. A girl with strawberry blonde hair suddenly stopped and raise her head up to look up at the sky. People glanced at her with irritation as they bumped into her in the crowded subway station.

 _The sky that I used to look up as a kid was a lot closer than it is now._

 _So I like the rain that carries down the scent of the sky._

 _I would walk outside instead of taking the subway on rainy mornings._

She climbed up the stairs in light steps, almost hopping in excitement. When she reached the top of the gray mountain of stairs, she opened up her transparent umbrella and walked into the rain.

She moved in her own pace. Her steps were easy and relaxed, her feet colliding with the thin sheet of water on the ground. And soon, she was out of the lifeless gray city. The tall buildings were replaced by thick green trees that seemed to be more alive than ever with the sweet rain.

She crossed a wooden bridge that made her steps sound heavier, more determined. Her head moved from left to right, her eyes roaming to witness the scenery that she was not familiar with. The rain was creating ripples on the surface of a rather small river, and the flowers were floating around peacefully, soaking up the rain.

She saw a shoe, hidden behind the wooden pillar. As she continued to push her feet forward, the wooden pillar moved out of her sight, revealing a woman taking a sip out of a can.

Her feet stopped abruptly, and their eyes met. Her body slightly lurched out of reflex. She blinked her eyes, her left hand tightening around the backpack strap. They both stopped in motion for a second. The strawberry blonde's lips were slightly apart as she stared at the woman, and the woman's hand was in the midst of the air from taking a sip.

The woman looked away first, settling her hands on her lap. And the girl strutted her legs towards the shelter with a wooden roof and two benches underneath it. As she got closer to the shelter, the woman stood up and moved her seat to the other bench. There was no doubt that she was being considerate of the girl who was stepping into the shelter, folding her umbrella. The girl gave a slight nod with her head, thanking the woman, and sat where the woman was sitting just mere seconds ago.

She settled her bag beside her and unzipped it, ruffling around to get her sketchbook out. They could hear the sound of the water passing in the small river, and the sound of pencil scratching against the dry paper in a set tempo. The girl was drawing dotted lines, and she sometimes used longer strokes to transfer the ideas in her head into a picture.

And the pictures were of shoes and feet, each different in shape, size, and theme. She rolled her eyes around and furrowed her brows, not sure if the picture was quite right. She turned her head towards the left, and she saw that shoe again, now in a pair that belonged to a platinum blonde woman.

She slowly raised her eyes, first to her ankle, her knees, then her legs and her hand. She noticed a bar of chocolate that was sitting next to the woman. The girl's eyes traveled up further towards the woman's her torso and her face. The woman was starring off to the horizon, her hand still attached to the can.

 _Chocolate and beer...? But why does she look so familiar?_

She retrieved her eyes back onto her sketchbook. Holding the sketchbook firmly, she pressed the eraser onto the paper's surface, moving back and forth to erase the drawing that didn't seem quite right.

The eraser jumped out of her hand in momentum, and it crashed twice on the floor before landing on the woman's slender hand. She grabbed it and stood up to hand it over to the girl.

"Here you go," she said as she stretched out her hand towards the girl.

"Oh, thank you." The girl stood up half way before opening her hand up to receive the gift.

The woman sat down as quickly as she got up. And the girl had to look away in embarrassment before reclaiming her seat.

Her head was hung down before she raised her eyes to see the woman's face. Then before she could think, she opened her mouth.

"Excuse me, have we met before?"

"Uh," surprised, her voice responded quicker than her brain. "No."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've been thinking about someone else," she replied, letting her eyes fall on her lap.

"It's okay."

She busily moved her pencil in an attempt to sever her attention from the blonde woman. As if nothing happened, they went back to what they were doing before. The girl drawing sketches, and the woman drinking beer as they listened to the rain fall. The sky rumbled with very little force, pretty blue electric lines appearing between the clouds.

As the woman was taking another sip from the can, her eyes curiously roamed over to the girl's side of the shelter. Her eyes spotted her uniform and the crocus symbol on the uniform vest.

She let out a quiet gasp as she stared at the flower. Her lips were pulled slightly upwards, creating a smooth line as she put down the can on the bench.

"We might have," she whispered softly as she stood up, picking up her purse. The woman noticed the red blush that occupied the girl's freckled face.

"Huh?" The girl let out, as she snapped her neck up in a surprise.

The sky rumbled again, and the girl could see those pretty blue electric lines behind the woman's smile.

"A faint claps of thunder far away," she breathed as she stood up and picked up the pink umbrella.

"Perhaps clouds might gather and rain away," she held the girl's gaze as she spoke. Every word rolled out of her tongue sensually, and a bit wistfully.

She turned her head away from the girl and started walking towards the rain.

"Then I could ask you to stay," she hummed as she closed her eyes.

The girl's gaze followed the woman as she opened up her umbrella and walked into the stream of drizzling rain.


	2. Greenery Rain

Chapter 2: Greenery Rain

The sound of TV in the living room traveled all the way to the kitchen. A male announcer's calm voice delivered the news that the monsoon season would start five days sooner than last year. His words were muffled and interrupted as a sharp knife cut through the vegetables. It created a crisp sound before the knife hit the wooden cutting board.

The sound of a pair of man's dress shoes clopping cut through the sound of water boiling and the vegetables being chopped. The door lock turned and an auburn haired man walked in, carrying a plastic bag in his right hand.

"I'm home," he said, lifting up the plastic bag in his hand.

"Hey." The girl gave a quick glance before turning her attention back to cooking.

"I brought the infamous cheesecake from the bakery downtown." He placed the bag on the dining table and opened up a mini fridge, grabbing a cold beer.

"Thanks," she answered nonchalantly. "Dinner's almost ready."

Her hands were busy, the knife in her hand moving fast through the greens.

"Where's mom?"

Her hands stopped for a moment before answering his question. "She ran away."

"Nice," he sang, loosening the tie around his neck. "More cheesecake for us then."

"She left a note. It said not to look for her," she added as she topped the dish with fresh vegetables. "Do you think it's really okay?" Her casual demeanor couldn't hide the worry in her voice.

There was a note left on the kitchen. The front cover said "To Anna and Hans".

"Leave her alone," he said with a bit of irritation in his voice. "She'll come back when she has a fight with her boyfriend."

The clinking sound of the dinnerware echoed in the room, and it was the only sound that broke the silence. Until, his declaration.

"I signed the contract."

She lifted her eyes from her phone with her borrows furrowed.

"I'm moving out next month," he said, not even bothering to meet her eyes.

"Are you living alone?" Her hand was in the mid-air, the fork in her hand stopped halfway to her mouth.

"With my girlfriend."

She raised her eyebrows, incredulous of what was being said. "Is that the reason why mom left home? Did you talk about it yesterday?"

"Yeah, I was hoping that she'd let me be more independent," he said, finally meeting her eyes. "I mean, she's the one who's dating a guy who's twelve years younger than her."

She closed her eyes to avoid his gaze, taking a sip of water to calm the annoyance that was building up inside.

"She said 'Fine! Then I'll live with my boyfriend too!' Then she downed the beer and stormed out," he added.

She let out a sigh that sounded like a laughter. "Well, she does look young for her age."

The man shook his head. "That's because she's never experienced any difficulties in her life." He gave an almost apologetic smile. "But you've aged in her place."

She scarfed the last bit of food on the plate. "I'm stuffed," she replied with a small smirk that graced her lips. She stood up quickly, the chair scraping against the wooden floor as she pushed it back. "Wash the dishes for me, will you? So I won't age more."

* * *

She held what looked like a knife sharpener in her hand, grinding it against a piece of wood in her hand. And that piece of wood was being shaped into a shoe, carved hollow in the middle to fit a person's foot. She was careful not to make a mess on the floor outside of the area where she laid our newspaper to collect the dust. She turned the shoe into a different angle, her eyes meticulously examining what parts to sculpture next.

The sound of the bathroom door open and close echoed through the thin walls. Hans walked in within a few seconds, drying his hair with a towel around his neck.

"Aren't you glad that I'll be gone? You'll have this room all to yourself. We won't have to share it anymore."

He looked down at her with his hands on his hips, watching her work.

"I guess so." Her hands and eyes were never taken off of the shoe.

"Help me out when I move." It sounded like a demand, but his tone was light. The girl could tell that he was smiling.

"Sure," she hummed as she rummaged through her tools to find just the one she was looking for.

He stared at her for a moment before turning around to leave, but she stopped him abruptly. "Oh wait, Hans."

"Hmm?"

"Do you know what this is?" She asked as she passed a piece of paper towards him, diverting her attention for the first time from her shoe.

He took the piece of paper and skimmed it quickly. "What's this? A song?"

"It's a poem," she chastised him, displeased that Hans couldn't give her the answer she was looking for.

"There is no way I would know. Ask mom when she comes back," he said as he handed back the paper to her.

The paper had bits and pieces of phrases written down with question marks on words such as "thunder", "clouds", "rains", and "ask you to stay".

* * *

 _On sunny mornings, I take the right subway train to come to school. But I don't think this is the right time for this._.

She couldn't manage to stay awake to watch the old man writing an infinite amount of tiny words on the blackboard. The chalk made an annoying clicking sound as it pushed against the blackboard, demanding everyone's attention. Exasperated, she looked out the window to see the sun fully out and shining in the middle of the sky. She didn't seem too happy that it was out there, staring down at her. She almost felt like it was taunting her, telling her that she was exactly where she belonged and it should remain that way.

* * *

The alarm went off with an overly cheerful ringtone. A hand instantly snatched the vibrating phone to silence the noise, and the room was silent again. The room was free of the blaring morning ringtone, but Anna heard the steady and light pattering sound outside the window. She sat up, her eyes still dazed, and her hair fizzy from the night's sleeping. She looked outside her window, and the second her eyes spotted the gray sky and the falling water droplets, he lips curved into an excited grin.

"It's raining."

* * *

She walked with her transparent umbrella in her hand, the grin still plastered on her face. And it was the same thing all over again. Her feet colliding with the thin sheet of water on the ground. Hopping from one spot to another like a bunny to avoid stepping into a puddle. Crossing the wooden bridge that made her steps sound heavier. But this time, she knew exactly where she was headed, and that put an extra dose of bounce and excitement into her steps.

Her moccasin made a dull clopping sound against the hard concrete floor under the wooden shelter, and the sound made the platinum blonde woman look up. The woman's eyes landed on the shoe and it roamed upwards. She let out a soft gasp, and her face lit up instantly when her eyes landed on Anna's face. And it was just the same again. The blonde woman in a suit, nurturing a beer can on her lap. The pink umbrella that's leaning against the bench next to her. And that smile that made Anna come back to this garden again.

"Hi," she said, as she saw Anna approaching the bench.

"Hello."

The acknowledgement was short and brief before Anna pulled out the sketchbook and a pencil. And once again, they were back to doing what they did the last time they met, Anna making sketches on the paper while the woman drank beer.

The pattering sound of the rain filled the space as the girl scrunched up her brows in an exasperated manner, staring down at her sketch as if she was missing something important. The woman opened another can of beer, her legs crossed, and her foot dangled back and forth. She was wearing heels that had feminine pink ribbon on the front to make the beige color more spring-like. And dangling that shoe made her foot bare and exposed for the girl to steal glances.

She drew the smooth curve of her heel, the long line of her legs on her sketchbook.

"Hey," the woman called.

Anna closed the sketchbook as fast as she could, almost jumping in her seat. "Y-yeah?" Her heart was pounding fast as if she just had run a marathon.

The woman chuckled before putting down the beer can next to her seat. "Do you not have school today?" She asked with a smile, but her tone revealed that she already knew the answer.

Anna pouted with a blush that lit her freckles on her cheeks for the world to see. "Do you not have work today?" She challenged, glancing at the empty beer cans.

She sighed what sounded like a forced laugh. "I skipped work again." She looked down at her lap, and it looked as if she was being scolded by an adult.

Anna's pout quickly turned into a smirk. "Then you came to a park to start drinking in the morning?"

They both giggled at the ridiculous notion that was too funny to be true, and yet it was happening.

"Drinking on an empty stomach isn't good for you," Anna said playfully. "You should eat something with it."

The woman leaned in, placing her elbow on her lap to close the distance to get a better look at the girl. "And how would a high school girl know that?" She asked, mischievously.

"Oh, it's not me," she defended herself. Her hands jumped into the air, holding it out as a gesture that it's a big misunderstanding. "But my mom does, often."

"I don't drink on an empty stomach," the woman said as she turned her attention to her purse. Her hands dug into the purse and pulled out stacks of chocolate bars and chocolate boxes, dropping a couple of them on the bench in the process. "You want some?" She asked, pushing it towards the girl with a proud expression.

Anna's lips parted, trying to find the right words to respond to the woman, but her only response was her brows shooting up to her hairline at the incredulous sight. The woman caught the hesitation and the change in Anna's expression. "Just now, you thought that I was a dangerous woman in your head, right?"

"N-no," Anna stammered, trying to explain.

"It's okay." The woman smiled, reassuring Anna that she didn't mind her reaction. She placed the chocolates on her lap. "Every human being is a bit weird."

"Is... that so?" Anna asked, bewildered.

Smiling, the woman met the girl's eyes. Her sapphire blue eyes pieced and held the Anna's gaze. "Yeah."

All of the sudden, the sound of the rain, and the chilled breeze became all too vivid for Anna. All of her senses became hypersensitive, as if her body was telling her that something was happening. Something different and unique. She didn't know what it was, so she looked into those sapphire ocean eyes for an explanation of this unknown feeling.

The wind picked up, forcing the rain to change its direction. Anna packed her things up and zipped her backpack. She secured the backpack straps on a shoulder and stood up. "I should be going," she said, picking up her umbrella.

"Are you going to school?" The woman seemed surprised.

"Yeah, I've decided that I would skip classes on rainy mornings," she said with a smirk.

"Then we might see each other again." She returned a smirk of her own. "If it rains..."

She walked away from the shelter, and her steps became faster and faster until she was jogging in the rain with a huge grin on her face.

 _That day was the day the monsoon season began._


End file.
